This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Vehicles conventionally have an internal body structure including a pair of side rails extending longitudinally along on opposite sides of the vehicle's power plant (e.g. engine) in the front of the vehicle. A bumper typically extends laterally along the front of the vehicle, between the two rails. The rails typically support the power plant and any number of vehicle components or body panels. The bumper and rails are conventionally designed to absorb some of the forces that can occur during an impact event by deforming. The degree and location of such deformation can determine the trajectory of the vehicle during and after the impact event, and can influence the forces experienced by vehicle occupants. One type of impact event is known as a narrow offset impact where only the outer 25% of the vehicle's width is impacted by a rigid body during the impact event. Typically, the side rails are located laterally inboard of the outer 25% of the vehicle's width, such that the rigid body of the narrow offset impact event can miss the side rail. This can lead to less desirable energy absorption during narrow offset impact events.